At the end of the Southern Pier is the Gdynia Aquarium. It is a research and educational facility, which conducts a wide range of activities for children and adults. Most people associate the Aquarium more with a cross between a museum and a water zoo. In several dozen huge aquariums, you can see over two hundred species of fish, amphibians, reptiles and invertebrates.
Before visitors reach the live specimens, they are well prepared theoretically. In the museum exhibition room, issues related to life that thrives under water and the ways in which humans explore and exploit marine resources are explained in a clear and accessible way.
Sea turtles are some of the longest-living animals on Earth, reaching ages of up to 100 years. Fot. Akwarium Gdyńskie
This is where you can find unique specimens of huge water turtles or sturgeon, as well as easily digestible curiosities related to cartilaginous fish such as rays and sharks. In the following rooms, visitors will be enchanted by the richness of aquatic and aquatic-terrestrial life. The aquariums are large, arranged in a way that resembles natural conditions as much as possible, so that the animals inhabiting them can be seen in the environment in which they live in the wild.
Aqarium in Gdynia
The rooms are divided thematically. Animals from the border of water and land introduce us to an unknown world that we do not deal with on a daily basis. Truly aesthetic and exotic experiences await in the room with a real coral reef and its colorful inhabitants. In the dark space of the aquatic world, various fish, including sharks and giant starfish, that like the cold depths of the ocean, live.
Chrysaora is a genus of jellyfish belonging to the class of cnidarians, known for their vivid and often spectacular colors. One of the most recognizable species of this genus is Chrysaora fuscescens, also known as the compass jellyfish, which features a distinctive compass-like pattern on its bell. Fot. Akwarium Gdyńskie
The real hit of the Gdynia Aquarium collection are anacondas and electric eels, which can be found in the space presenting the natural environment of the Amazon Basin. Female anacondas in the Gdynia Aquarium are over 5.5 meters long, so they give visitors shivers at the thought of meeting them in their natural environment. Electric eels, on the other hand, gather crowds of visitors in front of their aquarium glass, who not only admire these amazing creatures, but thanks to a special system, can also listen to them.
The Gdynia Aquarium, photo: Pomorskie.Travel
The Gdynia Aquarium is located in a building built in the 1970s, which was originally intended to be only an office space for employees of the Marine Fisheries Institute, fot. Akwarium Gdyńskie
Cold Seas. From the Atlantic to the Baltic
One of the attractions of the Gdynia Aquarium is the “Cold Seas” exhibition showing animals inhabiting the cold waters of the Atlantic and Baltic. This is the newest exhibition of the aquatic zoo, located below sea level. Visitors have an extraordinary opportunity to discover the diversity of the environment, which is not generally considered as such, and the dynamic, well-oxygenated and fully salty waters of the North Atlantic provide excellent living conditions for many species of animals and plants. We encourage you to get to know lumpfish, eelpout, garfish or common eagle rays.
Sharks, electric eels or the short-snouted crocodile, which can be seen in the other halls of the tour, will certainly also cause an extraordinary stir among visitors. Guests of the Gdynia Aquarium can learn about the aquatic environment of North America, coral reefs, and the local Baltic Sea.
Gdynia Aquarium, short-snouted crocodile, photo: promotional materials
While in Gdynia, it is worth taking advantage of the opportunity to take a fascinating journey into the depths of the sea at the Gdynia Aquarium. Both children and adults have a great time there, equally delighted by the contact with the beauty of the underwater world, and the photos taken there (without a flash!) are no worse than those taken by divers during their underwater expeditions. The aquarium also offers the possibility of renting audio guides.
